Spotify Engineering Culture - Part 1 (aka the 'Spotify Model')

This video is a snapshot of Spotify's approach to software enginering and people management in 2014. It has since come to be known as the "Spotify Model".

I put it on Vimeo originally, but that account has some issues so I put a copy here.

DISCLAIMER: This video is a historical account from 2014. It is not maintained or updated, so it is not a description of how Spotify works today.

Many people ask which tools were used. I hand-drew everything in ArtRage using a Wacom drawing tablet, and recorded the drawing and speaking using ScreenFlow.

Full drawing:

Here is Part 2:

Original blog post:

Want to translate this? You can contribute subtitles in your language here:

[lecemotta]

Another fantastic video. You are so good in drawing and story telling. So clear and to the point! Congrats!

[pattydonohue]

BRILLIANT. I'm so jealous. I would love to work in an autonomous dev environment. Thanks so much for these tutorials.

[palmaly]

Really good example to explain agile working in engineering culture. Thanks Henrik.

[afiftarkhani]

Srsly this is the most amazing thing on youtube. Please don't stop!

[junecwanglove]

Hi Henrik, the video you made is not only informative but also very inspiring. Thank you.

[segunasiru]

wholesome. Sportify being explain with ease. I understand sportify much better now.

[PS-lhqs]

Dear Lord.. This was basically Music ! Love it

[ioanasusan]

I would be so curious to know how this whole process evolved from 2014 and mostly how this survived the pandemic and remote work. Does this intensely collaborative approach (closely working together in rooms with whiteboards instead of walls) work well with people working remote? Will there be a part 3?

[tyrellperera]

The 2 videos that started a movement. ❤️👍🏼

[GasparSilva]

FANTASTIC! It literally paints a pretty picture on how Spotify managed to achieve greatness: the platform is a direct reflection of the people maintaining it! KUDOS to Spotify!

[Rhi]

It's one of the best quality product out there

[id-harry-on-cloud]

I think the concept is fantastic, and it did inspired a lot of organization to adopt this agile model.
However not so many of them having a good understanding of the various factors that construct it and get into their expectation by doing this approach.

[georgehalet]

How are you adjusting your in-person collaboration methods to social distancing in the pandemic environment?
Was listening to Sam Harris interview Matt Mullenwegg of Automattic about distributed collaboration and thought back to your model and how awesome it seemed at the time.

[manishankarsingh]

This is real agility that is needed in every organisation.

[khengwahkoh]

Excellent case study, great illustration of Agile in practice!

[itsmemasud]

incredible... what a culture spotify owns!

[padyala]

Nice explanation. Good for a change out the 10 implementations in this model how many passed would be a good source of inspiration to follow. Really big complex projects would be a good focus for the statistics.

[katharinaciesla]

Great Video, both this and part 2. Thank you Henrik!

[DuBoisDrumstix]

How does product management fit in with squads and tribes at Spotify?

[veliromn]

Love this video! Thank you, and keep on adding more content on this!